Brazilian Labour Party (current)


The Brazilian Labour Party is a political party in Brazil founded in 1981 by Ivete Vargas, niece of President Getúlio Vargas. It claims the legacy of the historical PTB, although many historians reject this because the early version of PTB was a center-left party with wide support in the low class. Despite the name suggesting a left-leaning unionist labour party, the PTB joined a coalition led by the centrist/centre-right PSDB.

History

In 1981, the military dictatorship that had dismantled the historic PTB decided to revoke its legislation which enforced a two-party state. Ivete Vargas, niece of Getúlio Vargas, became the president of the party.
Soon thereafter, a social-democratic wing of the original PTB, led by Leonel Brizola, founded the Democratic Labour Party. This all but ensured that the PTB would abandon leftist politics, ultimately embracing centrist or slightly right-leaning politics.
In 1989 a small dissident faction of moderate social democrats and populists abandoned the PTB and founded the Labour Party of Brazil.

Popular support

At the legislative elections of October 6, 2002, the party won 26 out of 513 seats in the Chamber of Deputies and 3 out of 81 seats in the Senate.
Before the 2010 presidential election, PTB participated in the coalition government of former President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, and did not field presidential candidates. The party, however, did not support Lula's candidate to succeed him, Dilma Rousseff, as it embarked on PSDB José Serra's failed campaign for President.